HDIG - High Density Interval Gardening - Part 4 - Companion Planting and Gardening by the Moon

Successful, vertical, high yield urban gardening for terraces, balconies and lawns

On YouTube you will find many videos on companion planting and Gardening by the Moon. I just want to mention here what and how much of it I use in my own gardening. Like everything else one can get totally fanatic about it and follow the rules (which should really be only suggestions) strictly and that's not what it is about. This is about nature, about bringing nature to your small space and my motto is always: Good - Better - Best. First I aim for Best and if that is not possible for whatever reason, I go for Better and then for Good. And if that is not possible, I follow my gut feeling which in fact hasn't deceived me yet. No gardener is the same as the other and if another gardener feels strongly about an issue, I will definitely investigate.

Companion planting

There are many ways to approach this subject and I will give a little list further down, but I think looking at it from a logic point of view might be a good place to start.

Imagine a strawberry plant, bushy, many leaves, producing fruit early in the season. Would it be sensible to plant another bushy, fruit bearing plant next to it? Or might it be better to plant an onion seedling next to it which will not take up much space, will grow up straight with just a few leaves which might even be harvested for soups every so often and is not bearing fruit, but is producing a bulb. Yes, strawberries and onions go very well together.

So following this logic, maybe it is useful to plant a fruit bearing plant next to a root producing plant?

And if all that is too confusing for you as it is for me, then do what I do. I simply put a pretty flowering plant or a herb like parsley or dandelion next to a crop producing plant and be done. Works every time and looks pretty!

Lots of companions in the laundry basket:

But I promised, here is a companion planting list if you want to really get into it:

Very good companions:

Carrots next to onions
Tomatoes next to onions
Tomatoes next to parsley
Lettuce next to radishes
Peas next to celery
Potatoes next to cabbage plants
Celery next to roses

Good companions:

Cucumbers go well with onions, beans, celery, beetroot, parsley, lettuce, cabbage plants
Potatoes go well with spinach, beans, cabbage plants, caraway
Celery goes well with beans, spinach onions, beans, tomatoes, leeks, cabbage plants, cucumbers, roses
Parsley goes well with tomatoes, onions, radishes, cucumbers
Tomatoes goes well with celery, spinach, onions, parsley, cabbage plants, lettuce, leeks, beans, carrots
Spinach goes well with tomatoes, beans, strawberries, cabbage plants, carrots, potatoes
Lettuce goes well with onions, tomatoes, beans, radishes, dill, peas, cucumbers, strawberries, carrots, cabbages, leeks
Onions goes well with tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, parsley, lettuce, cabbage plants
Strawberries go well with carrots, leeks, cabbage plants, radishes, lettuce, spinach, onions

Very bad companions:

Beans next to onions
Cabbage next to onions
Potatoes next to onions
Red Cabbage next to tomatoes
Peas next to onions or garlic
Parsley next to lettuce
Tomatoes next to peas
Peas next to beans

This year, I forgot to look at this list and planted a few onions next to peas. Oh yes, the onions grew just fine, but the peas just didn't want to grow - so no peas this year! :(

I think companion planting is especially important in container gardening as one is always planting quite densely. Companion planting also deters pests! More about this in a later chapter.

Gardening with the moon for beginners

Many books and website have been written about this subject and the plagiarism that going on here is mind boggling! Again and again I've seen the same "mistakes" being copied over and over. Oh well, best to study it for yourself, try it out and ease yourself into the gardening by the moon, because it's worth it.

First I want to introduce a very good website that tells you just about everything to do with the moon and also has a very good moon calendar. Read the explanations there, they are good.

Screen grab of: http://moontracks.com

The top left menu button leads you to the actual moon calendar where you find the moon phases (full moon, new moon, waxing moon, waning moon) and then the sign which the moon currently goes through (Aries, Taurus, Leo etc.):

In the beginning I just printed the pages out, but that's really not worth it, now I just call up the website when I want to know anything about the moon.

This calendar now is the tool you need to do gardening by the moon and then you have to know which days are favorable for each task you want to do in the garden. Again, some people just stick to this like rules of a cult, but this is not what it's meant to be. It's meant to be a guidance. If I've just bought a plant at the nursery, I will water it well, maybe add some fertilizer and plant it never mind what moon. That makes sense.

Having said this, I will share with you today a few things I definitely do or don't do according to the moon, mainly because of bad results in the past if I ignored the recommendation.

1. I never cut a plant anywhere on full moon. I don't even cut anything one day before or one day after full moon. Cutting on those days will most likely weaken and even kill the plant especially if you cut the main growing branch. Having said that, I will choose the full moon, if I want to get rid of a plant.

2. I will only plant seeds or seedlings of maize (corn) 3 days before the full moon.

3. I will only plant potatoes 3 days after the full moon.

4. I will never plant anything, especially not seedlings, when the moon is in Aquarius. The seedlings will fall over and wilt and even bigger plants will not grow well, so I stay out of the garden on those days. Seeds will not grow well either.

5. I will only transplant plants on new moon, trees and bushes only in the winter months on new moon.

6. I only harvest herbs and fruits I want to dry on full moon when they have the most nutrients and dry them during the waning moon and pack them up on new moon. That way one avoids mould and other issues with spoiling.

7. I only use compost and other fertilizers on full moon (best) or waning moon, because if you use soil amendments in the waxing moon, first of all the plants won't take them up which is a waste then and in the worst case scenario, any fertilizer can burn your plants. Maybe you have observed it yourself that at times fertilizer works so well and at other times it doesn't do anything.

8. I never plant anything just before, during and a week or two after a solar eclipse. And I never plant anything around Xmas or Easter. It just never works out!

There are many other rules, I do try to plant root vegetables in the waning moon on a so called root day and a fruiting plant during the waxing moon on a so called fruit day etc. There is a set of rules one can learn and sometimes I do and sometimes I don't, well, I find planting on the "wrong" day (except moon in Aquarius) is not fatal.

As I said, there are many books and YouTube videos and websites that cover the subject, but take them with a pinch of salt and try things out.

There are people out there who ridicule all this planting and living by the moon, but the fact is that we are all influenced by the moon especially women, plants, tides and much more, so ridiculing and ignoring the moon is not really an option. Ask any farmer, young or old, they do know.

In the next chapter I'll cover my experience with fertilizers, pesticides and garden maintenance according to climate.

Looking forward to your comments and questions!

Love,

@antje